Hate
by KaiPhoenix
Summary: He didn't understand why people reacted to his pressence like that. He hadn't done anything bad.
1. Chapter 1

**Hate**

by KaiPhoenix

He didn't always understand just why people reacted to his pressence like that. He hadn't done anything bad. He was a good boy. He never got into things that he was told to stay out of; he didn't start fights with the other children, and when he did, he always told the adults what, exactly, had happened. It didn't matter, nothing he did ever mattered. He got into trouble with them anway.

He briefly wondered if it was because he didn't have any family. Maybe that was the reason why everyone hated him. But no, after his classmate, Sasuke, became an orphan too people didn't hate him. They treated him with even more love and respect than they had before.

When Naruto first heard that Sasuke was just like him, at least in regards to his family (as in, not having one), he was happy.

There was someone else just like him! Maybe they could be friends, and do things together...or even share an apartment! They could be each other's brother. They could be happy and ignore the hatred of the village together.

But...

But that didn't happen. The village didn't hate Sasuke like they did Naruto. No, they loved the little Uchiha _more_ because he didn't have anyone at home.

This confused Naruto even more than getting punished for something that he hadn't even been _near_ when it had gone wrong. If the village hated him because he didn't have a family to go home to, then did that mean that there was a different reason for why they treated him like that?

He didn't understand, and he was a little afraid to even _try_ to understand.

Maybe it was something else. Maybe it was something one of his parents had done to the village. Maybe he was the spawn of some horrible person who had done the village a great wrong.

But...

Didn't they teach in class that you shouldn't treat people badly because their parents were bad? Didn't they say that each person was responsible for their own actions, not someone else's? Hadn't the teacher said that it was wrong to judge someone by their family's deeds? (the teacher had looked over at Sasuke when he had said this, not that many in the room realized it)

When he had gone home from school that day, he had walked brightly. That meant that even if his family had done something wrong, the village wouldn't hate him for it! He had pasued at the threshold of the apartment as that thought completed it's way through his mind.

Did that mean that they hated him for some other reason?

Naruto didn't understand.

How could he? He was only 7 years old. Who could expect a 7 year-old to understand something as complex as an entire village hating his very existence for something that had happened moments after he had been born. For something that he didn't even know about.

**A/N:** this little oneshot's been bouncing around in my head for a while...I couldn't even peacefully _read_! So I wrote it down...maybe I can sleep now...mmm...sleep...


	2. Chapter 2: Genin

**Hate: Genin**

by KaiPheonix

Naruto watched as his team continued to walk away from the training grounds. He was still tied to the log in the center. He continued to call after them to be released, though he knew that he had already been pushed to the back of their minds. He closed his eyes and pushed any tears away.

He knew they weren't doing it on purpose.

That, above anything else, made it hurt all the more.

To be dismissed, forgotten, so easily. As if he no longer existed as soon as he wasn't in sight or hearing distance.

It was one of the reasons he wore such bright colors and was so loud all the time. Or at least whenever there was even the potential of being acknowledged. He had decided upon this course of action shortly after what was now called the Uchiha Massacre. When he had first realized that there must be some reason for why they treated him so differently from others.

He hadn't even been close in his guessing.

To think, he was hated for something that he had never even suspected.

He had learned of the real reason just a few mere days ago. It was still hard to fully understand. Who would have thought that it was possible to be hated for something sealed within you as if it _was_ you? He had certainly never heard of such a thing, never mind entertained such an idea.

When Iruka-sensei had seen him for who he was, he had been so...

Even now it was hard to find words to describe such iridescent joy. To have someone see Uzumaki Naruto and not that 'demon brat'.

He shuddered now at the old hated nickname that he had heard so often spoken in his presence as a child. He had thought it was because of his parents or something that he himself had done (had even taken pride in it when it was used in reference after a particularly curse worthy prank). He had never thought that they had meant it _literally_. They actually thought that he was some kind of bloodthirsty demon that had killed their loved ones simply for the joy of destroying something. Just because he enjoyed causing chaos didn't mean he was a monster! Thoughtless destruction of life was on an entirely different level than the pranks that he pulled.

He shook his head to clear such thoughts.

It didn't matter now. _That_ didn't matter.

He was a ninja now and he had already proved his worth as a person to at least one person.

Iruka-sensei hadn't thought much of him either when Naruto had first been placed in his class.

He wiggled again, trying to snap the ropes, find the knot, reach his weapons, _ANYTHING_ to get out of the strangle hold they had on him.

Nothing came of it. The rope burned into his wrists once again and he stifled the sound of frustration that threatened to come from his mouth. It didn't matter what the sound came out as, a growl, a sob, anything. He just couldn't let it out. Appearing to be helpless in any kind of way, even when no one was around to see it...

No, _especially_ when no one was around to see it.

You let yourself slip once and it's liable to happen again. And now that he knew the real reason everyone seemed so intent on him failing...

Hadn't it just happened?

Here he was, tied to a log, he obviously couldn't get himself out and yet his team didn't do anything about it. If he could have gotten out earlier, didn't they think that he would have? They were supposed to be a team, work together and cover for one another. Wasn't that just what Kakashi-sensei had been teaching them? Wasn't that the whole point of this test? Yet they were walking away from him at the first notice that he needed help. That he needed someone to teach him how to handle something that he didn't know how to do.

He had to look out for himself.

Just because he was supposed to look out for others now didn't mean that they would return the favor. He would be expected to watch out for them, and even if it hadn't've gotten him stripped of his shinobi status he would do it. He loved Konohagakure and genuinely wanted to keep it's populace safe.

Even if they didn't feel the same way.

He bent over as far as he could go to reach the ropes bound around his chest. Having to twist and dodge his academy instructors and other random shinobi while avoiding the roofs and lines of his village had made him surprisingly agile and maneuverable (though it always seemed to desert him in a serious fight). His back cracked a little and he grimaced before successfully wriggling his feet up a notch. He continued this method until he had successfully freed his arms. He then carefully pulled himself the rest of the way out, trying very hard not to damage the rope any.

When he was completely free, he spent several long minutes undoing the knot he had accidentally tightened in his bid to escape. Once it was unwound from the log, he carefully rewound it and slung it over his shoulder.

Never knew when a bit of rope would be needed.


	3. Chapter 3: Umino Iruka part 1

**Hate: Umino Iruka (part 1)**

He didn't know when he started to hate the boy, could have been when he first saw him or even when he first heard him speak. He knew that he hadn't always hated him, hadn't known he existed for almost a whole year after the boy's birth, in fact. When he did learn about his existence, he hadn't hated then, either. Hadn't known enough about hate to really know what the emotion felt like. Besides, he'd been too busy trying to survive himself. He'd been old enough and smart enough to not get sent to one of the many orphanages that had cropped up after the Kyuubi attack, but that didn't mean that things had been handed to him on a silver platter either.

He knew how to take care of himself, knew how to keep house in a small apartment, all he could afford on the money his parents had saved up for him. He guessed he could consider himself lucky to have shinobi who planned ahead and actually thought of a future as his parents. They had taught him enough to be able to get emancipated after only a few months in an orphanage. He had been allowed to access the trust fund that his parents had scrimped and saved for and he was quite pleased with how much was in it. Not that he'd been able to have a lot of access to it. He was allowed just enough to cover rent for a small studio in one of the slightly nicer poverty level apartment buildings.

He'd gotten a job or two outside of the Academy in order to earn enough money to buy food for himself and until he graduated, had lukewarm water most of the time and almost no heating during the winter months. Goofing off at the Academy had been the only time he'd spent playing around and even then, he'd kept his grades up. He had to look after himself, and in doing so, he hadn't been very aware of the Kyuubi boy's existence on more than a visceral level.

That changed a few months after he'd graduated the Academy and become a genin.

He had been coming in from a D-ranked mission with his team, waiting in line to turn in their report and collect their payment when it had happened.

A small blonde whirlwind had just about bulldozed through the doors and continued on its way passed the genin waiting in line and the few jounin that had stayed with their teams. The jounin ignored it for the most part, pretending it didn't exist. A few of the genin tried that as well, but most of them glared at the small blonde with as much venom as could have been given to a former schoolmate who had ratted them out in such a way that would have gotten them expelled and banned for life from becoming a shinobi of the Leaf. Some of them had probably glared something worse than that, but as far as Iruka had known that was as bad as it could get.

The blonde had tried to get passed some of the chunin that worked in the missions office and had almost made it as far as the hallway to the Hokage's Office before he was caught and unceremoniously thrown out a window. He had been startled and almost bolted for the window to catch the scrap of a kid when he'd overheard the chunin muttering to each other about 'good riddance to demon trash.' It hadn't taken him very long to put two and two together.

He hadn't hated the kid at first, hadn't cared enough to, not really.

But he hadn't really cared to see if the kid was alright either.


End file.
